anonfeedback

Time to spread some holiday cheer in the form of feedback for authors!

Writers: Leave a comment with your username or writing journal. You must be logged in. All usernames posted by anonymous users will be deleted. Be prepared to handle crit!

Commenters: anonymously or unanonymously reply to their threads with comments on their writing, positive or with suggestions or everything in between. No drama, no excess bashing, especially not on personalities, etc.

Suggestions for leaving (and taking) constructive criticism:

Keep it in first person. "I find it difficult to read your story because of the many spelling errors" is a fact which nobody can disagree with. "You need to fix your many spelling errors" is just asking for a kneejerk "no I don't".

Getting bad reviews? Sit on your hands for 24 hours. No matter how badly you want to snap back. At the end of that time, take what's useful and ignore the rest. If there was anything useful, thank the reviewer for it. "Useful" might well include "I loved this" - it doesn't have to be detailed critique. But it doesn't include "You suck."*

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The idea is to build on what the writers are doing well, not just correct what they're having trouble with. If there's something you loved - tell them! Otherwise the good bits may end up on the cutting-room floor.

Feel free to make suggestions for what you might have done differently, had you been writing the story, but explain your reasons. Even if the writers still prefer their original versions, it may help them evaluate the choices they made.

Always be aware that we are discussing the work, not the writer as a person. However, this is not a literature class or a book group - the author is part of the conversation, and is probably quite attached to their work and their words.*

Remember that constructive criticism is meant to encourage writers as opposed to discouraging them.

Link to your thread with the code below.

To sum it up: anonymous commenting is on, don't be rude, and have fun! Mod post is located here.